1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the splicing of material into a sheet, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for splicing material having a honeycomb core to produce a panel.
2. Background Information
In many industrial applications, lesser or remnant pieces of a material are spliced to produce a larger component made of that same material. The need for splicing occurs when the material being used has a limited stock size or when remnant pieces recovered from an end-user manufacturing process are recycled. The structural requirements of spliced materials vary substantially with the application in which they are used; however, spliced materials are generally recognized as adequate if they possess the same strength and properties as un-spliced bulk material. Unfortunately, core splices are often found to be inadequate for end-user manufacturing.
Honeycomb core can be found in many applications. For example, honeycomb cores are used in interior aircraft panels, as well as padding devices design to absorb impact Typically, a honeycomb core sheet 20, such as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, is spliced by coating a first core piece 24 with an adhesive along splice line 22. The adhesive is usually similar to that used to initially bond each of the cells at their nodes. The cells of a second core piece 26 are aligned with the cells of the first core piece 24, and then the two pieces 24 and 26 are pushed into contact with each other. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, paper clips 28 are used to attach the nodes along the splice line 22. Then, the whole core sheet 20 is cured as required by the particular adhesive. However, the honeycomb core sheet 20, when spliced in such a manner, often exhibits splitting along the splice line 22 when an end-user attempts to form it to some prescribed contour. The splitting of the core sheet 20 usually renders it unfit for use.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a honeycomb splicing process, as well as an apparatus to carry out the process, that produces a splice durable enough to withstand the forces exerted on a honeycomb sheet when it is contoured.